Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

March 1943. "Activity in the Santa Fe R.R. yard, Los Angeles, Calif. All switch lights, headlights and lamps have been shaded from above in accordance with blackout regulations. The heavy light streaks are caused by paths of locomotive headlights and the thin lines by lamps of switchmen working in the yard. Santa Fe R.R. trip." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano, who seems to have been among the earliest photographers of light trails in color.

April 1943. Proviso Yards of the Chicago & North Western Railroad. Joseph Klesken washing up after a day's work on the rip tracks. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

This was a portrait of my late Uncle Charles "Sonny" Haile taken around 1949 at the age of 17. (That's right, 17 years of age, he falsified records to get in the Navy). EDIT: I have since found out he did not falsify records, actually my Mother signed the papers to allow him into the Navy.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.